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Powering Europe with Sunshine from Africa and Middle East

How To Power A Continent With Wind And Solar http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3271 by Giles Parkinson, editor of RenewEconomy.com.au, 27 June 12  Of all the most ambitious renewable energy projects around the world, the European Desertec Industrial Initiative ranks right at the top- some would say fantastic in both the true and the modern sense of the word.The basic plan of Desertec is to harness the wind and solar power from north Africa and the Middle East and use it- along with similar resources from southern Europe- to help Europe cut 95 per cent of its emissions from its electricity grid by 2050, and to have renewables provide 90 per cent of its power needs.

A new report released by the initiative- which is a consortium of 21 industrial giants such as Siemens, E.ON, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Enel, and Shell- says this can be done, at the same time as reducing electricity costs and making the grid more stable than it would otherwise be.

The 2050 Desert Power report released late last week, co-authored by the Fraunhofer Institute, says that by importing 20 per cent of its energy needs from the Middle East and north Africa (MENA), Europe can save €33 billion a year, or €30 for each megawatt hour of imported electricity.

It also concludes that MENA could generate €63 billion in annual
energy exports and meet its own energy requirements reliably from
solar and wind, as well as cut its emissions by 50 per cent, even
despite massive increase in demand expected from the anticipated 45
per cent growth in population over the coming decades.

As well, the combined area, a new geographic entity dubbed “Eumena”
for energy purposes- would benefit from a 40 per cent drop in the
marginal cost of Co2 reductions as it meets its 95 per cent reduction
target. Clearly, if this can be done- and the report says on the issue
of costs and technology it is very achievable, even if it is more
challenging on the political front- then it is an attractive
proposition for both regions.

“An interconnected, renewables-based power system for EUMENA is
valuable for reasons of competitiveness, sustainability and security
of supply,” the report concludes, although it notes: “This requires a
paradigm shift from today’s weakly interconnected, fossil fuel-based
system to an integrated, sustainable one.”

It paints a scenario where 91 per cent of Eumena’s power needs comes
from renewables- with just 9 per cent from gas-fired generation by
2050. Wind accounts for 53 per cent (48 per cent onshore, 5 per cent
offshore), solar accounts for 25 per cent (with solar thermal
providing 16 per cent and solar PV 9 per cent), while other renewables
such as hydro power, geothermal, and biomass provide the rest.

Interestingly, it predicts countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and
Egypt will consume as much electricity as France, Germany the UK and
Italy, so most of the desert power will be consumed locally. The
biggest exporters- the southern powerhouses – will be Algeria,
Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, while the northern powerhouses will be
Scandinavia (particularly Norway with huge hydro resources and small
population). The two sources will intersect over eight different
transmission routes.

June 27, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, Reference, renewable